Blind Eyes
by acrosseverystar
Summary: After his plane is struck down just behind enemy lines in October of 1918, Flight Captain Lance McClain finds himself being treated in a convalescent home by a nurse that he can only describe as beautiful, despite being unable to see her at all.
1. Chapter 1

"Where am I?" the young man asked groggily, his voice strained.

Katie looked over when she heard his voice. He sounded lost, as though he couldn't remember anything leading up to the moment he was in. This was the first time he had spoken since he had been admitted to the officer's hospital the night before. "Chatsworth House," she answered evenly.

"Chatsworth?" he exclaimed, his voice hoarse. "I never thought I'd end up here," he muttered to himself lowly.

In reply, Katie moved closer to his bed. The young man was one of the many officers that were being housed in her uncle's estate at the moment. She looked down at the chart that was on the end of his bed. _Captain McClain. _She knew of some McClains in Staffordshire. Perhaps he was somehow related to the family.

Before Katie could say anything in return, he spoke again. "Why can't I see? What's over my eyes?" he asked, a thin veil of panic laced his voice as his hands came up to touch the bandages on his face. They were coated in a sticky substance that left a thin film on his fingertips.

She could hear the distress in his voice. _So much for finishing rolling these bandages._

The girl sat down in the chair next to his bed. There was enough space between his bed and the one next to him that she could comfortably seat herself without being in anyone's way.

After having the house open as a convalescence home for officers for two years, they had a lot of things figured out. "There are bandages over your eyes because you were hit by mustard gas. I put a salve on it to help them heal."

"So I'll be able to see again?" the young officer asked, excitement creeping into his tone.

"There's no guarantee, but it's very possible. I've seen cases of recovery before," she replied with a shrug. "There's no reason that you won't be the next case."

His entire expression flipped and he grinned widely. Katie had to admit to herself that he was a handsome man, with his bronzed features and wide smile. She hadn't seen his eyes yet, but she imagined that they would match the rest of his face well.

"Thank you for that, Nurse-?" he asked expectantly. His entire demeanor had changed from somber to that of an excited puppy in a matter of seconds.

Katie couldn't keep the soft smile off her face as she replied. "Holt. I'm Nurse Holt."

* * *

"Katie, are you going to be joining us for dinner tonight?" her uncle asked with his usual intense demeanor.

The girl smiled as she tugged on her gloves, adjusting them on her upper arm. "Yes, Uncle Alfor. They don't need me on staff tonight, so I thought I would join the rest of the family for dinner. Is that okay?"

"Certainly!" her uncle's voice boomed. "Coran, can you make sure that there is a place set for Miss Holt?" he called, turning to his butler.

Coran nodded. "Certainly, Your Grace. I'll set the place myself. And dinner will be ready in just a few minutes," he stated happily before bowing out and exiting the drawing room.

Katie turned her attention to her cousin. "Allura! How was your day?"

Allura flashed Katie her signature angelic smile. "It was rather lovely," she stated as she sat down next to her cousin on the sofa nearest to the fireplace. "I spent most of it reading to the officers in the hall. I can't wait until I finish my training and can treat the soldiers like you do," she told Katie enviously.

"With the war ending in just a few weeks, there isn't much of a need anymore," Alfor stated from his chair by the fire.

His daughter was ready to offer her rebuttal to her father when the door opened again, revealing Coran. "Forgive the intrusion, Your Grace, but dinner is served."

Alfor, Allura, and Katie all stood and followed Coran to the spacious dining room. The home had two formal dining rooms, and since the party was limited to family tonight, they went with the smaller room that could still easily seat twenty people.

As dinner commenced, Katie couldn't help but admire the general splendor of the room. The home had only recently been outfitted with electricity, and the chandelier was dazzling as it threw spots of light against the mirror on the wall across from her. The general feel off the room was light, with cream colored wallpaper contrasted with white trim on the walls and the dark wood of the floor.

_Just like the rest of the house. _

"Have you heard from Matthew?" Alfor asked suddenly, pulling Katie's attention back to her uncle.

She shook her head in dismay. "Not since last month. But his last letter said his unit isn't on the front lines right now, so unless something has changed recently, he isn't in any immediate danger."

"Oh thank heavens for that," Allura said with a sigh of relief. "I can't imagine what we would do if something happened to him."

Katie couldn't help but chuckle darkly at her cousin's statement. "Yeah. You would have to find a new heir."

A look of hurt flashed across Allura's face as Katie's pointed statement hit it's mark. "Katie, that's not-"

"That's hardly fair-" Alfor interrupted.

"I know," Katie admitted glumly. "Forgive me. I know you didn't just bring Matt and I here because he is your next heir."

Allura's smile returned quickly. "All is forgiven, my dear Pidge. My father and I both care about you and Matt. You are apart of our _family," _she insisted sincerely.

And when it came from Allura, Katie knew that it was true. Her uncle Alfor might be another story entirely, however.

After all, Katie's late mother was the younger sister to Alfor Cavendish, Duke of Devonshire. Both Matt and Katie had always been welcome at Chatsworth House for the Holidays, but even from a young age she could sense her uncle's mild displeasure at his nephew being his heir if he never produced a son.

After his wife died, it seemed that the Duke had reconciled himself to his situation.

But the shadow of dissatisfaction lingered in the dark crevices of the old home, and even after five years of residency, Katie wondered if they would ever really dissipate.

* * *

"So, Nurse Holt . . . where are you from?"

Katie rolled her eyes at the captain next to her. When she spoke to him after coming in for her shift in the morning, he had immediately begged the girl to talk to him. He insisted that since he couldn't see yet (the bandages weren't due off for at least a week), that he had found it almost impossible to make friends in the rehabilitation ward.

After his whining and pleading had come to an end, she had finally admitted that she had bandages that needed to be rolled, and since it would take her at least half an hour, there was no harm in bringing them over to his bedside while she worked on him.

"South Yorkshire. My father bought an estate there to please my mother."

"Did it work?" he asked with a lopsided grin.

She had to admit that this patient was quickly becoming one of her favorites. He had an easy smile and an open demeanor. He took everything, including his potential blindness, in stride. The nurse could tell that he lifted the spirits of the officers around him as he asked about their families and homes. "I think so. They loved each other a lot."

"Loved?" he inquired, the grin slipping from the officer's tanned face.

Katie placed another perfectly rolled bandage on the corner of the metal tray. "Past tense. My mother passed ten years ago. My father was lost on the titanic."

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have pried-" he tried to apologize.

"It's alright," Katie answered evenly as she could whilst completing another roll of bandages. "My parents loved me and my brother for as long as they could. That's more than a lot of people could say."

Officer McClain nodded. "It is a very good thing to know that you have been loved."

"Matt and I have been very lucky."

The officer's smile returned at the opportunity to change topics. "Matt? Is that your brother?"

"Mhmm. He's four years older. He's a Major in the Cavalry and he should be coming home soon."

"Why?"

She paused, her hand nearly slipping off the bandage as the nurse turned her attention to the officer to her right.

"Because the war is ending, ya daft ninny," the officer to her left said with a wheeze of laughter. "Haven't you heard?"

Katie quickly fixed the officer with a glare. "Thank you for your comments, Officer Plaxum, but please keep any unnecessary accolades to yourself in the future," she stated, her tone sharp enough to cut. The officer wilted back against his pillow, knowing very well that it wasn't in his best interest to fight with the woman who administered his morphine drip.

Captain McClain chuckled. "You're pretty fierce, Nurse Holt, aren't you?"

"Only when it's needed," she retorted, her attention returning to her tray. "And where are you from, Captain McClain?"

"Ah, I see you're changing the subject. If you are interested in knowing, I grew up in south Cheshire. My family owns an estate near the border and I grew up there with my brothers and sisters."

"How many?"

"Too many," he replied with a smirk. "Or, that's how it feels sometimes. I have two brothers and a sister."

Katie smiled down at her tray. She could only imagine what his sister had gone through, being raised alongside him. "And where do you fall in all this?"

"The youngest."

"Why does that not surprise me?" she answered with a giggle.

The flight officer huffed indignantly. "What is that supposed to mean, exactly, Nurse Holt?"

"Don't worry about it, Captain McClain," she replied, stifling a laugh. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to put these bandages away."

"And then you're coming back, right?"

The laugh that she had been suppressing for the last half hour finally bubbled out. "Heavens above, you're needy," Katie teased gently, rolling her eyes in reply.

"Just when it comes to you, Nurse Holt," he replied breezily as he leaned back into his pillow.

* * *

"So you were a fighter pilot?"

The officer nodded. "Still am, actually. Flight Captain Lance McClain, at your service m'lady," he replied with a suggestive smirk.

While Katie rolled her eyes at his antics, she could help but smile at him. If nothing else, he was her easiest patient. Captain McClain was cheerful and optimistic. He had no need for rehabilitation just yet, so he mostly just wanted someone to talk to. It was only his third day in the ward and he was already one of the most popular officers on his floor. "What kind of plane?" she asked, her interest piqued.

Katie had a great interest in technology, something that those closest to her new about. She loved discovering what the next new thing was to be. As a child, she remembered her father showing her newspaper clips about the two Americans who had managed to fly an airplane successfully. Ever since then, her interest in modern technology had only increased.

"Armstrong Whitworth F.K.10. There are only a few of them manufactured, actually. It's a two-seat quadruplane Fighter. It can go up to 135 kilometers an hour. She was a beauty, my blue. I named her after my dog!"

"So if you were the pilot, who was your gunner?"

The pilot's face fell at Katie's question. "Griffin. He was new." He paused for a moment, as if lost in thought. His demeanor shifted as he contemplated just how much he wanted to tell the nurse that was treating him. "We were just over the border in Germany when we were shot down."

Katie leaned forward, noticing the wistfulness in his tone, as though he were sharing someone else's experience and not a horrific memory of his own.

"We both ejected. I was just grateful that the engine didn't explode and kill us immediately," he admitted.

She could hear the guilt in his voice as he spoke. The horror of the experience must have taken a toll on him. She wondered, not for the first time, what his time in the field hospital had been like. Had he cried? Had he called out for his comrade when he was unable to see anything as the sores grew too painful to bear?

"I don't even know if he ever made it to the trench. And I was blinded by mustard gas so quickly . . ." he trailed off quietly.

Katie waited, unsure if she should speak or not.

The officer seemed to shake himself out of it, reminding Katie of a dog shaking off bathwater. "Then I woke up in a medic unit and they shipped me off here to see if I'll recover."

"You _will _recover, Captain McClain. And in five days, we'll pull the bandages off and we can deal with whatever happens."

"Will you be here when that happens?" he asked.

Katie laughed. "Probably. I'm here every day."

"Sorry, that came out wrong. _Will _you be here when they take the bandages off?"

The nurse paused thoughtfully. She could hear the pleading in his voice as he spoke. Katie swallowed thickly as she felt color rise to her cheeks in embarrassment. She was grateful that he couldn't see her blush.

"I promise that I will be there."

* * *

Katie grimaced as she downed her morning coffee quickly. She had been working every day from six in the morning until nearly midnight for the past three weeks. She had always loved sleeping and had a tendency to sleep through breakfast when she was growing up. The last few weeks had hardly even left her time to check her stocks in the papers. If her solicitor hadn't been sending her weekly updates on her accounts and investments then she would be completely clueless as to where she stood financially.

As she began her morning shift, relieving one of the night nurses in the process, she made her rounds on her patients.

"Nurse Holt, is that you?"

Katie paused at the familiar voice. "And a good morning to you, Captain McClain. Three days until the bandages come off. How are you feeling?"

"Much better, now that you're here, Nurse Holt," he threw back at her with a wolfish grin.

"Have you always been such a flirt?" Katie threw back good-naturedly. She could tell by watching him that his cheerful disposition probably contributed greatly to his flirtatious tendencies.

His grin only broadened. "Only when it comes to you."

Katie couldn't help the blush that dusted her cheeks and she prayed that none of her other patients noticed her appearance.

"But, anyway," the pilot continued with a cough. "I got a letter in the evening post yesterday. Would you be able to take a few minutes and read it to me?"

She looked at him thoughtfully before glancing at the table next to his bed. Indeed, there was a letter on the corner. Katie glanced at the clock. She had a few minutes extra, but only if she moved quickly.

"Sure," she answered taking the seat next to the table.

"Thank you," the pilot replied cheerfully, settling into his pillow as he waited for her to begin reading the letter. The anticipation of waiting for someone to read it, once it had arrived the evening before, had been killing him

After opening the envelope neatly, Katie pulled the paper out. "It's from your mother."

"Oh, that's good. It's been weeks since her last letter."

"Should I just start reading?"

The officer nodded. "Please, go ahead."

"_My Dear Lance," _Katie had to pause as she spoke his first name aloud for the first time. The blush had returned briefly and she wondered how every interaction with the young officer managed to always make her feel a little squirmy. She cleared her throat before continuing. "_I hope this letter finds you well. We received word about your injury. I send you my utmost love and hope that you recover as quickly as possible."_

"That's very kind of her. My mama has always been a sweetheart," he stated warmly.

"She sounds kind. Should I continue?"

The pilot waved his hand. "Of course. Sorry to interrupt," he said sheepishly.

"_I have something to tell you that you might find hard to hear. Luis and Marco, your dear brothers. They are . . ." _Katie trailed off, her breath catching in her throat. _No. No. Not him, Not them. No._

"My brothers? What happened, Nurse Holt?" There was an edge to his voice, as if the words couldn't come out fast enough. "Nurse Holt?"

Katie's eyes welled with tears and she took a shaky breath. "Sorry. I'll keep going. _They are no longer with us. Luis was struck down in the trenches a few weeks ago. He never made it to the field hospital." _She stopped reading, her heart hammering in her chest.

Her mind flashed to the last time she saw Matt. He had been home for three days leave and she wondered if she would ever see him again. The fear had settled in her heart at the thought of losing the last member of her family.

The pilot's entire body was tense and his hands were shaking. When he spoke, his voice was thick with emotion. "And Marco?"

Katie bit the corner of her cheek, turning her attention to the letter again. "_I know this will break your heart, almost as much as it has broken mine, mijo. Marco was taken by cholera. There was an outbreak in his unit. He died only a few days later. I'm so sorry. I know that they loved you, and in every letter they wrote me, they told me how proud of you they were. I know that they are still watching over you. Be strong, my brilliant and brave son, and know that you are loved. Come back to us soon, mijo. Love, your mother."_

Her hands shook as she held the letter tightly in her grip, her knuckles white. She glanced over at Captain McClain and she almost gasped in shock.

Through the bandages, a tear had coursed down his cheek. His normally sunny complexion was pale and closed off. His shoulder shook with the effort of checking his emotion.

Without thinking, Katie reached forward and grabbed his hand, resting hers on top of his. Her fingers tightened over his palm in an attempt to reassure him. Absently, his other hand came to rest on top of hers. In this moment, she felt anchored to him in his grief.

This cheerful pilot had lost two brothers in the same day. Katie was reminded of how she felt when she received the news of her father's death. It was just her and Matt after that. She wouldn't wish losing one's family on anyone, especially on the kind officer that may very well lose his sight.

Absently, her thumb stroked across the side of his hand. The silence was deafening, but she refused to be the one to break it and shatter his loss with a comment or consolation, no matter how well intended. Comfort wasn't about words; it was about actions. It didn't matter what she said to him in that moment, as his grief was unchangeable. What mattered was that she was _there. _

"Shouldn't you be-"

"I'll stay as long as you need me," Katie insisted. "I only know a bit about losing a loved one, but I hope it's enough. So I'll stay right here."

There was a moment of silence before the officer finally rasped out. "Thank you."

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading my trash fic that is the direct result of me watching too much Downton Abbey.**

**-Star**


	2. Chapter 2

There was a quiet commotion from the end of the hall. The usually subdued and hushed tones used by staff and soldier alike were traded for shouts of exclamation. Katie turned as she finished administering the morphine drip to her last patient, curious as to what was causing the upset.

She nearly fell to the ground when she caught sight of it all.

Standing there, at the end of the hall, was Matt.

His boots were covered in mud. He looked as though he tried to clean his dress uniform as hastily as he could (which he probably did on the train); There were bags under his eyes and lines on his face that were new from the last time she had seen him.

But his smile was still the same.

Katie pulled herself together as the tears began streaming down her cheek. She tried to wipe them away, but they kept spilling out as a maelstrom of emotions coursed through her.

Within seconds, her feet were off the floor as she flew down the center aisle.

Looking back on it, she could swear she saw Matt brace himself in anticipation as she threw herself into his arms. Even with the extra effort, the force she used nearly knocked him over. "Matt!" she crooned his name over and over, burying her face into his shoulder.

Katie remembered how hard it had been to send him off to the war when it began. She could recall, with perfect clarity, that she had forced a stiff upper lip as she waved goodbye, banishing her Father's "American" emotions and sticking firmly to her mother's traditional upbringing. She had held it together until she got to her bed that night where her pillow and the moonlight through the windows were the only ones to overhear her silent heartbreak.

"You're really home again. You're really here," she insisted. Katie placed her hands on his cheeks, noticing the stubble on his jaw. He had grown while he had been away.

Matt tightened his arms around her. "Yes, I am Pidge. I'm really home."

They were each a relic to the other; a reminder of a childhood spent together in the nursery, supervised by nannies and governesses. A reminder of a time that was far simpler and much more innocent than what their recent years had brought them. Katie remembered books filled with diagrams and hard candies that the butler would sneak to them between luncheon and tea. Matt was reminded of toy guns and games in the gardens on those sunny days that lit up his childhood.

Slowly, as they both began to understand that the other would not vanish back into the shadows of war if they let go of each other, their memories disappearing in a cloud of smoke, they pulled apart. Matt kept his hands on his sister's arms, beaming with pride at seeing her nurse's uniform.

"Pidge! I didn't even think that you might still be working for the day. You must be very busy and I've interrupted you."

Katie warmed at the childhood nickname, born from their own childhood attempt at "hunting" like the rest of the family. Suffice it to say, she was not a very good shot at the time, a skill she had secretly perfected with his help a few years later.

"It's okay, I'm happy to see you," Katie insisted, wiping her eyes.

"And I'm happy to see you, too, Pidge," her brother replied. "Now, where can I find the rest of the family?"

00000000

Katie couldn't keep the grin off of her face as she sat across from her brother at dinner. She had begged the doctor on staff that night to let her join her family for dinner, and he had consented, securing the promise that she would return to finish her shift when dinner was over.

It didn't matter that she hadn't slept a full night in over three weeks because it meant Matt was home, and the war was almost officially over.

In celebration, Allura had convinced her to wear her newest dress, a pale green piece of silk with a wide collar and white beading. She had even consented to have her hair done up with a feathered headband instead of it's usual bunch of loosely pinned waves.

"Katie," her uncle acknowledged as they finished with the first course of the night. "I think . . . I think that you look very much like your mother right now."

Pidge beamed at the compliment. "Thank you, Uncle Alfor. That means a lot to me."

"Oh, I do agree, dear Pidge. And I think with the war ending, we should start thinking about preparing you for the next season," Allura insisted.

Katie looked down at her plate as her heart hammered in her chest. She had completely forgotten about her impending introduction to society, especially since the war had certainly delayed it.

"After all," Allura continued cheerfully, "At nineteen you are certainly old enough to be out."

Matt could see his sister tense as she placed her utensils on her plate, her face turning white as she considered the impending situation. He could practically _feel _her fear at the thought of facing the _ton. _

"We don't have to worry about that right now, Pidge. Your introduction wouldn't be for at least another few months," Matt insisted in an attempt to calm his sister. Katie looked at him, her eyes wide. He nodded subtly in response. She exhaled before letting her shoulders drop, the tension leaving her almost immediately.

"It's such a fun time, Pidge. We'll stay in the london house and go to the opera and concerts, we'll host parties and go to balls. It's a splendid way to spend the spring," Allura said gleefully, clasping her hands together.

Katie nodded before taking a sip of her wine. Normally she wasn't afraid of things, but the thought of facing the ton made her increasingly nervous. She wasn't a fan of large social gatherings and particularly disliked how vain and vapid society could be when they all came together. She had found that in small settings, society included mostly intelligent and charismatic people. However, when faced with a ball and the thought of looking for a suitable suitor, they all became increasingly shallow, feeding off of their own insecurities.

"So," Katie began, turning the conversation to a new topic, "Matt, why didn't we get a letter from you announcing your arrival?"

Matt cut into his steak happily as he replied, grateful to have a different topic than the previous one. Nobody seemed eager to push him to marry anyone any time soon. "By the time I received my orders to go home, what with the war ending, everything happened so quickly that it would have been pointless for me to write. They told us we were shipping out the next morning. If I had sent a letter, it probably wouldn't get here until tomorrow as it is."

"They sent you so suddenly? How strange," Alfor chimed in, his curiosity piqued. "I wonder why."

Matt shrugged. "I think they were unsure about whether or not it would actually end, which is why they kept us on for so long. But once they knew we wouldn't be coming back, they were happy to send us on our way."

Allura smiled at Matt, content to have her cousin home safely. "Well, we are grateful that you are back, and in one piece," she stated happily.

"Speaking of being in one piece," Matt interjected. "I have been thinking about the officers downstairs. What is the best way for me to help with the situation? Now that I'm here, I would like to do anything that I can to help them in their recovery. After all, I have been fortunate enough to return without any injury, and those men haven't all been so lucky," he continued softly.

Katie could see the sadness in his eyes when he spoke of the officers in their convalescent home. After all, the men who returned with so few injuries were few and far between. And they were lucky compared to the men who didn't return at all. "A lot of them could use some companionship," she replied. "There's one officer who is waiting to determine if his eyes will heal from the mustard gas that hit him in the trenches. He just needs someone to talk to."

"Oh yes, I think I've met him!" Allura chimed in with a smile. "Captain McClain?"

"That's him," Katie replied. "I can introduce you to him, if you want me to. Then he won't be hassling me to talk to him every time I start a shift. Speaking of which," Pidge said with a glance at the clock, "I better go change. I promised Major Kogane that I would be back as soon as dinner finished." Katie stood up with the rest of the family. Matt hugged his sister goodbye before sending her off to finish her shift. He planned to go down later and see if he could do anything to help the men downstairs.

00000000

"Captain McClain, I would like to introduce you to my brother, Major Holt. He's just returned from France. Matt, this is Captain McClain. He's a fighter pilot for the Royal Air Force," Katie introduced her brother to Captain that had been stealing all her attention for the last six days with a hint of nervousness. After all, what if they didn't get along?

"Captain McClain, it's an honor to meet a fellow soldier," Matt stated warmly, shaking the pilot's hand in the process. "How long has my sister been 'treating' you?"

The young pilot grinned widely. "Your sister has been refusing to administer any kind of treatment other than scolding. She insists that it's the doctor's orders, but I know that she actually just hates me," he teased.

Katie could see by the quirk of his smile that he was joking, but she couldn't prevent the blush that crept onto her face. "I have not!" she insisted. "I have been nothing but courteous to you since you arrived, Captain. But, if that's how you see it than I can ask another nurse to take over your assignment for me," she threatened archly.

Matt began to laugh. "Our Pidge is a spitfire, if you can't tell."

"Pidge?" The officer asked, having never heard her given name or any sort of nickname for the nurse that had continued to drift to his bedside each day, if to do little more than offer comfort and consolation.

"Don't you dare!" Katie hissed at her brother, smacking his arm.

"You see, Captain-"

"Matthew!"

"She's a terrible shot. Or, she was, at least," Matt insisted with a wide grin. "She has improved a lot in the last ten years."

The pilot's face lit up. "I would love to see that!"

Katie's head whipped in his direction at his choice of words. See that.

He would love to see that.

She wondered again if his sight would ever actually come back to him.

Captain McClain continued speaking, as though he was completely unaware of the implications of his words. "Actually, Major Holt. I was wondering if you would be able to assist me with something tomorrow. Your sister is always too 'busy' to take me out for a walk - "

"You've never asked!" Katie interjected loudly, her hands resting on her hips in indignation.

"-and I could really use some fresh air. Would you be willing to take me out for a bit?"

The Major nodded, his gaze flickering to the blush that coated his sister's cheeks, matching the pout that lingered from the pilot's accusation. "I'm happy to help, Captain. Should I grab you after lunch?"

"Sure thing."

"Excuse me," Katie interjected. "He's my patient! Shouldn't you be asking for my permission?"

"Forgive me, Nurse Holt. How could I be so careless?" the pilot teased, his tone taking on a suave charm. "With your permission, dearest, kindest, most beautiful Nurse Holt, may I be given permission to take a short walk outside, that I might compare the cold air outside to the warmth of your manners, and be better equipped to appreciate your breathtaking charm?" he requested flirtatiously.

Matt balked at his blatant flirtation. Obviously, the Captain was quite the charmer. His sister had never shown any interest in men, but this man seemed quite persistent and he seemed capable of getting a rise out her at any given moment. Their walk would certainly be interesting.

Katie's eyes narrowed as she stared the Captain down. He couldn't see her expression, but if he could have he would have withered away at the sharp expression on her face. She took a deep breath before responding, trying desperately to compose herself. "Fine. Just see that you don't overexert yourself. And you," she stated, turning her attention to her brother, "keep an eye on him. Make sure he doesn't get hurt or anything," she insisted.

"Wow. If I didn't know any better, Nurse, I would think that you actually cared about me."

The nurse turned on her heels sharply before calling over her shoulder, "Then it's a good thing you don't know anything."

00000000

"So," Matt began cautiously as he walked along the gravel path that ran behind the main estate with his assigned charge. "You seem to have a gift for getting a rise out of my sister."

Captain McClain, who had been bundled up in warmer clothes by a medical officer before being ushered outside with a cane just a few moments earlier, couldn't help the grin that rested on his face. He liked being outside, and he was intrigued by the notion of getting to know the brother of his favorite nurse. "She reacts very easily. I like to hear her reactions," he replied simply.

He could feel the cold settling around him. November had just begun and he could feel winter exhaling it's icy breath, testing the waters as it reached down into his bones.

Matt laughed as he continued walking, adjusting his normally brisk pace to accommodate the slower gait of his charge. "You like her, don't you?" he asked softly. The Major had never been one to beat around the bush or avoid difficult topics, especially when it was related to his sister's happiness.

The pilot stopped walking, nearly dropping his cane in the process. "Is it that obvious?" he asked with a wry smile.

"Just to people with eyes. And ears," Matt added with an easy shrug, his attention focused on the man next to him.

Captain McClain nodded slowly, his face tilted towards the ground. "It's not really fair of me, I guess. But she was there when I first woke up here. I could hear her giving orders and helping everyone. I don't really know what she looks like, but I've decided that whatever her appearance, that is what angels are supposed to look like."

"Why wouldn't that be fair?" Matt asked curiously. He could that the pilot was interested in his sister, and his description had won him points in the Major's books.

He exhaled in reply, a frown settling on his face as he pulled a piece of paper from his pocket. Grimly, he handed it to the Major. "Read it, I don't mind."

Slowly, Matt opened what he assumed was a letter, the paper wrinkling in the corners from where his fingers had touched it. He read each line carefully.

A moment of silence ensued as he pored over the contents spilled across the page. His heart constricted painfully as he contemplated the suffering the young man must have been through. How would he feel if he had lost Pidge?

"I'm sorry for your loss, Captain," Matt uttered softly as he placed the letter back in the pilot's hands.

"Thank you," he answered softly, leaning on his cane for support. "That's why I need to get these bandages off. I need to see my mother and my sister."

Matt swallowed thickly. Losing family was painful under any circumstance. But to be separated during the loss added a layer of difficulty that he would never understand. "Captain-"

"Lance."

"Pardon?"

"Just call me Lance," he insisted as he replaced the letter in his pocket. His voice was subdued and somber. "Now do you see why I think your sister is an angel sent from God?" Lance asked, his voice cracking with emotion. He had hardly allowed himself to think about the letter received, instead choosing to focus his time and attention on the little nurse that changed his bandages and checked his morphine drip.

It was much easier to live in a world where his life was centered on wooing a woman than to face an existence filled with the absence of his two older brothers.

He prayed quietly in his bed each night, silently calling out to God, wondering if just his family had been abandoned, or if the entire continent had been forsaken.

Always, before sunrise, his angel would answer his prayers.

"Yes. Yes, I can see why. She was sent to you when you needed her the most," Matt replied with a low whistle. He placed his hands absently in his pockets before continuing. "What will you do when the bandages come off tomorrow?" Matt wondered if he even wanted to hear the answer that the young officer was sure to give.

Lance licked his lips before letting the words out slowly.

"Go home."


End file.
